Cougar Legacy Club brings storied past alive for North wrestlers

When Roy Bruce took over Bloomington North's wrestling program he was disappointed at what he saw when he went into the practice room.

The Cougars' past had been painted over.

"All the memories were gone," Bruce said. "No history was left of the guys who went through. Everything was gone."

Before he even met the team members, the ex-Cougar who wrestled under Bo Henry and Perry Summit re-hung the photo of the 1977 state champs and put the names of North's individual state champs back on the east wall above the padding.

Names of North's state place winners and the team sectional, regional and semistate championship years are also listed.

Last summer, the team came in and repainted the walls North's gold color above the alternating maroon and gold pads. Wrestlers Cas Crevello and Bernie Sims added graffiti art, including a stylized 'BHSN Wrestling'.

Then he turned his attention toward further honoring the people whose names he had restored and those who had helped them attain those feats by starting the Cougar Legacy Club. The inaugural class was announced and a gathering was held Friday night before the Bo Henry Classic at North.

Honored, naturally, were some of the biggest names in the program's history, 17-year head coach Bo Henry (led the 1977 state champs and '76 runner-up); Gene and Anne Brewer (their son, Gene III, a 1988 state champ, passed away from cancer in 2005 and his name graces an award given annually to a worthy wrestler at the Bo Henry Classic); three-time undefeated state champ Pat Cassidy (1993-95); the late Monty Clay (long time coach at Tri-North and president of the Cougar Wrestling Club); Heath Vandeventer (2004 state champ, 2003 runner-up and school record holder for wins in a season (48) and career (171)) and North's first state champ (1973), Dan Wiley.

There was plenty of food provided by the Cozy Table and plenty of tales to go around in what will be an annual affair.

"The ceremony took about an hour and then we hung out for about three or four hours sharing stories," Bruce said. "We had a blast. We went down to the wrestling room and you see the guys walking in and all the memories coming back. It got their juices flowing again.

"I didn't have to talk a lot, which was good. I could just sit back and listen, which made it fun."

He was hoping his current crop of Cougars who attended were listening, too. Their past is not so much different from what they are going through now.

"The first 30 minutes or so the older wrestlers were intermingling with the young guys," Bruce said. "You were going through the same thing 15-20 years ago. Wrestling is the same. You go through it. You run, you sweat, you bleed, you hurt. Practices suck. It's hard. But it's what you do to be a state champion and they did that."

In the end, connecting them to the former coaches and wrestlers and the success North enjoyed is key to Bruce's revival plan.

"It's important to have the kids there to know the background stories," Bruce said. "To know what it is they are wrestling for. We've got to keep this going because one day, they are not going to be here."

Bo Henry wrap up

Owen Valley had a solid day at the Bo Henry Classic, finishing second with 192 points to Tell City (216). North was seventh (140½).

The Patriots had a wrestler finish in the top six in every weight class, led by champions Branson Weaver (150 pounds) and Dylan Hale (285). Weaver posted an 18-3 tech fall in his final while Hale had a pin in 3:25. Taking second were Eli Collier (120) and Jenson Ackison (157) and third were Trayton Reuter (113) and Quaid Hinshaw (165).

The Cougars had one champ in Cael Hickok at 157 and also saw Tre Hopkins (132), Miguel Tidrow (144) and Jeremiah Casillas (165) finish second and Kanye Roberts-Gray (120) take third.

Holiday tournaments

All four area teams will be in action the week after Christmas.

North, Edgewood and Owen Valley will all be at the 32-team 52nd annual Mooresville Holiday Classic, while South will make it's annual trip to Mishawaka for the Al Smith Classic, one of the state's premier events. Both are two-day events.

Top records in Bloomington area

Here's a quick look at some of the top records as listed for area wrestlers on trackwrestling.com:

106: Jaxson Jean, South 12-4; 120: John Orman, Edgewood 15-2; Kanye Roberts-Gray, North 11-3; Eli Collier, OV 11-4; 144: Wyatt Cooksey, South 13-3; 150: Branson Weaver, OV 15-0; Michael Neidigh, Edgewood 16-2; Carson Bohall, South 12-4; 157: Cael Hickok, North 9-1; 165: Evan Roudebush, South 15-1; Quaid Hinshaw, OV, 14-2; Jeremiah Casillas, North 11-2; 285: Dylan Hale, OV 13-2.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X @JimGordillo

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington North wrestling's Legacy Club connects past and present